When comedian George Lopez and Santana shared the stage at Red Rocks three ago, Lopez noticed the altitude quite a bit.

"Someone asked, 'Where's your jacket?' I said, 'It's in my dressing room,' but I didn't have the strength to go get it."

Lopez was speaking with a reporter in advance of his "Listen to my Face" tour appearance at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $39.50-$75.

Lopez said coming to Colorado has its perks — like the opportunity to perform with the mountains nearby and, of course, legalized marijuana.

"I'm not against marijuana. It clearly has medicinal purposes," said Lopez, who then told a story about his family's history with pot.

When he was growing up, a grandmother always seemed to have a homemade bottle of tequila, which he said someone put marijuana in.

"Whenever her feet or knees hurt, she rubbed it with marijuana," Lopez said said. "Apparently smoking is bad, but rubbing it on your skin is good."

He finds humor in the fact it was a terrible thing if he were caught smoking the stuff in his backyard but not for his grandma to rub it on her knees on the porch.

As an only child, Lopez spent a lot of time alone while growing up, so when he started doing stand-up comedy, he looked for that approving laughter that said, "This guy's great."

"You're walking out there to make strangers accept you and make them laugh, which is psychologically interesting enough — our need to entertain strangers," he said.

Comedian George Lopez on the set of the "George Lopez Show" in 2006. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

He has performed as a comedian since he was 18 and now views comedy as an old friend or sibling he's always had around.

His first show was in 1979 at the Comedy Store in West Hollywood.

"The first two times I was a little bit shaky," Lopez said, "and then the third time the guy that was hosting it put me in the middle (of the acts)."

He said he didn't have any idea what he was doing and equated it to being in a car with no brakes: He just had to keep pushing through. And he ended up doing really well.

"That was the first time I felt accepted," he said. "It was like an out-of-body experience. I've done better thousands of times since then, but nothing like that."

With social media so relevant in today's society, he no longer has to wait long to find out from audience members whether he "sucked" or did well.

He also pays attention to followers and has been known to invite fans backstage who might have tweeted things such as, "I didn't get a photo with George Lopez!"

He invited one such young man backstage and gave him swag that included stickers and the nameplate off his dressing room door.

Lopez is working on a special for next year and is in talks about another television show. He writes all his material and performs his TV specials live.

"I'm one of the few that does specials live," he said. "It adds more excitement. I don't think they should be recorded twice and then choosing the best. Of course you're going to be amazing (with do-overs), but it's not real."

He said no one in his family was funny when he was growing up.

"I was kind of shy, and then when I went to school I'd do voices for my friends. They thought I was hilarious," he said.

Now that he is successful, Lopez has befriended people he admired growing up, such as former NBA great Julius "Dr. J" Erving.

"I had him sign a jersey that he personalized for me and I put it up in my bedroom. It's an amazing thing that I used to watch this guy and then he signed a jersey for me," said Lopez, who also seems shocked he has met the likes of Cheech and Chong, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor.